Decorative female hair piece



March 1969 P. A. DOOLITTLE DECORATIVE FEMALE HAIR PIECE Filed Oct. 17, 1967 F'lG. 5

F'KE. 2

I NVEN'TOR.

PAUL A. DOOLITTLE FIG. 4

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,433,235 DECORATIVE FEMALE HAIR PIECE Paul A. Doolittle, 100 S. Pennington Road, New Brunswick, NJ. 08901 Filed Oct. 17, 1967, Ser. No. 679,284 U.S. Cl. 132-53 11 Claims Int. Cl. A41g 3/00 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE My invention is a decorative female hair piece having at least one but preferably a plurality of generally elongated tongues at least a portion of which are covered with a material simulating hair, the tongues being bendable into a wide variety of shapes and fabricated of a material having a high degree of shape memory.

Background of invention The female wiglet has become extremely popular in recent years to provide a wide degree of flexibility in hair styling and to permit rapid modifications or corrections Without time-consuming salon sessions. However, the common wiglet is actually self-defeating in its espoused object to save time and provide latitude in hair styling. The wiglet must be carefully pre-styled usually by a professional, and the only latitude of style permitted after setting is the manner of positioning with respect to the remainder of the natural hair. Even in this respect, once the style of the wiglet has been set, there is relatively little latitude in positioning the wiglet on the head.

It is a principal object of my invention to provide a supplemental female hair piece in which an extremely wide variety of hair styles may be achieved without the use of expensive, time consuming professional setting. In addition, the novel structure of my hair piece will provide means for incorporating decorative elements other'than hair in the coitfure quickly and easily without professional assistance.

Hair pieces may be located in the U.S. Patent Oflice in class 132, sub-classes 9, 53, 54, 55 and 56. The following patents disclose hair pieces generally but do not anticipate my invention: 942,833, 2,073,869, 2,393,064, 3,273,570, 3,307,562.

Summary of invention By Way of summary, my invention is a decorative female hair piece for multiple hair styling comprising a base atleast one but preferably a plurality of generally elongated tongues attached to the base, at least one of the tongues being bendable and having a high degree of shape memory and being at least partially covered with a material simulating hair.

As a collateral aspect of my invention, I contemplate a decorative hair piece of the character aforesaid having at least one decorative ornament attached to the base, the decorative ornament preferably being bendable and having a high degree of shape memory.

Preferred embodiment of invention The objects and advantages aforesaid as well as other objects and advantages may be achieved by my invention, one embodiment of which is illustrated in the drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a bottom plan view of my hair piece;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational cross-sectional view of a bendable tongue attached to the base;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view of a decorative tongue having ornamentation other than hair;

3,433,235 Patented Mar. 18, 1969 FIGURE 4 is a view in perspective of my hair piece having one hair covered tongue and one ornamented tongue detachably secured thereto;

FIGURE 5 is a front view of a head to which my hair piece has been applied.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, my hair piece comprises a base 11 which for convenience is illustrated as generally flat and circular although the particular configuration of the base is not critical to my invention. The base 11 may be fabricated of sized, heavy fabric or may be formed of any other suitable material. In addition, while I have not expressly so depicted in the drawings, the base may be covered with a material to simulate hair.

In order to achieve a high degree of styling flexibility, a plurality of generally elongated tongues 12 are detachably secured to the top 13 of the base 11. Principally, the tongues will be covered with human, animal or synthetic hair 14 as illustrated in FIGURE 2. The tongue 12 may be fabricated of any suitable material and have any suitable construction such that it is readily bendable being both rollable and twistable but has a high degree of shape memory. Such a configuration could be a sheet of sized fabric having ductile wire members woven therein. In the alternative a wire mesh could be employed which may be covered with fabric, rubber, plastic or the like to which the material simulating hair is secured.

While I have illustrated the hair as attached in such a manner that all of the hair filaments extend in one direction, the particular orientation of the hair is a matter of choice as is the portion of the tongue bearing hair. In addition, the manner of securing the hair to the tongue is a matter of choice.

The tongues 12 are detachably secured to the top 13 of the base 11 by means of cooperative male and female thumb snaps 1S and 16. However, the particular manner of securing each tongue to the base is a matter of choice and the thumb snap could be replaced by any other suitable fastener. The fastening means permit not only detachment of the respective tongues 12 but permit orientation of the tongues with respect to the remainder of the base and other tongues as well as the addition or subtraction of tongues and their relative positioning.

While I have illustrated tongues which are detachable from the base, many of the objects and advantages of my invention may be achieved by tongues which are permanently secured to the base although the degree of flexibility in styling is thereby somewhat limited. In addition, it is desirable that each tongue be not only detachable but also attachable at any particular orientation with respect to any portion or side of the base rather than extending initially in but one fixed radial orientation. Cooperative thumb snap fasteners provide for rotationally positioning each tongue with respect to the fastener on the base 11. However, the use of Velcro provides not only a wide degree of flexibility in positioning the tongue but tend to resist unintended accidental rotational movement while in use. In addition, if Velcro were employed, the entire base could be the seat of attachment for tongues at any position which cannot be obtained with thumb fasteners. In addition, Velcro can provide for fastening one tongue 12 to another at one of their ends as well as to the base.

As a collateral aspect of invention, I contemplate providing ornamentation means on the base. One such ornamentation means is illustrated in FIGURE 3 and comprises an elongated, bendable and twistable tongue 17 having pearls 18 attached thereto. The tongues 17 may be fastened to the base 11 in the same fashion as hair covered tongues 12. In addition, while it is vital that at least one of the hair covered tongues be bendable with a high degree of shape memory, the ornamentation tongue need not be bendable although this is a desirable characteristic.

The base may be secured to any position on the head by any suitable means such as a comb 19 illustrated in FIGURE 1. However, the particular means employed to secure the base to the head are a matter of choice. By positioning the desired number of hair tongues 12 on the base 11 and creating curls, twirls, bangs or the like therefrom, a wide variety of hair styles may be achieved. Unlike the common wiglet, my hair piece, does not require time consuming professional styling with machines and the like. Rather, the tongues may be hand-shaped or shaped on mandrels by the user without the exercise of any particular skill. Moreover, the user is able to add or subtract hair tongues as desired and as necessity may present, depending upon the natural hair condition at the time. ornamentation means may be added to the base and integrated With the hair covered tongues for added effect.

I claim:

1. A hair piece comprising:

(a) a base,

(b) at least one generally elongated tongue attached to the base at least one such tongue being bendable and having a high degree of shape memory,

(c) at least one such tongue being at least partially covered with material simulating hair.

2. A hair piece comprising:

(a) the structure in accordance with claim 1 and,

(b) at least one tongue having decorative ornaments other than hair.

3. A hair piece comprising:

(a) the structure in accordance with claim 1 and,

(b) a decorative ornament attached to the base.

4. A hair piece comprising:

(a) the structure in accordance with claim 1 in which,

(b) at least one of the tongues covered with simulated hair rotatably orientable with respect to the base.

5. A hair piece comprising:

(a) the structure in accordance with claim 1 in which,

(b) at least one tongue having material simulating hair is detachably thereon secured to the base.

6. A hair piece comprising:

(a) the structure in accordance with claim 1 in which,

(b) at least one tongue having material simulating hair .4 thereon is detachably attachable to a large number of different positions on at least one side of the base.

7. A hair piece comprising:

(a) the structure in accordance with claim 1 in which,

(b) at least one tongue having material simulating hair thereon is detachably attachable at a variable position on at least one side of the base.

8. A hair piece comprising:

(a) the structure in accordance with claim 1 and,

(b) at least one ornamental member attached to the base. 9. A hair piece comprising: (a) the structure in accordance with claim 1 in which, (b) at least a portion of the base is provided with material simulating hair. 10. A hair piece comprising: (a) the structure in accordance with claim 1 in which, (b) at least one tongue is detachably attached to another tongue proximal to the base. 11. A hair piece comprising: (a) the structure in accordance with claim 2 and, (b) at least one tongue having exclusively decorative ornaments other than hair.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 415,104 11/1889 Godefroy 132-54 1,133,196 3/1915 Teugler 13253 1,490,479 4/1924 Noel 13253 2,066,709 1/ 1937 Adams 132-53 3,236,246 2/1966 Culligan 132-54 3,295,536 1/1967 Shaw et a1. 13253 3,385,305 5/1968 Buzzelli 132-105 LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner.

JAMES W. MITCHELL, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 2067 

